The vision behind Thorsten-Voice
A high-quality German artificial TTS (text-to-speech) voice that can be generated offline should be available to everyone free of charge and without licensing restrictions (open source).
My stance: a conscious choice, not a technical inevitability
When I started recording my voice in 2019, there were no one-click tools that could clone any voice you like. I made a conscious, voluntary decision to give my voice away – an active choice, made out of the conviction that free, open-source speech technology should belong to everyone.
Today the world looks different. AI voice cloning has become so accessible that voices can be copied without the person ever being asked – let alone giving their consent. This very difference between voluntary and involuntary has been on my mind for years. From my own experience, I keep feeling its effects – both emotionally and in very tangible ways.
Technical progress must not replace a person's own conscious decision about their voice.
Progress isn't bad in itself – this project has been proving the opposite for years. But progress doesn't release anyone from asking people before their voice, their face or their identity is used. That's exactly what I stand up for: technology that empowers people instead of overriding them.
A personal note
I can't – and don't want to – control what text my voice ends up speaking. That's simply the nature of an open-source project. All the more reason for me to state clearly what I personally stand for:
"For me, all people are equal, no matter of gender, sexual orientation, religion, skin color or geocoordinates of birth location. I believe in a global world where everybody is warmly welcome everywhere, and where free knowledge and education are available to everyone at no cost. I donated my voice to the public in the hope that it will be used in this spirit."
— Thorsten Müller, 2020
Recordings & use cases
I recorded more than 30,000 sentences in my spare time. They are the foundation of all my AI voices. Thanks to their free license, they are used in many international research papers. You'll find details about the recordings and ideas for what you can use my AI voices for on separate pages.